Commonwealth Games: Day One Prelims Live Recap; Six Meet-Record Swims

Photo Courtesy: Ian MacNicol/Scottish Swimming

THE first morning of prelims at the Commonwealth Games served notice that the swimmers assembled plan on making a huge dent in the world rankings. By the end of the day, six meet record times had gone up on the board heading into finals.

Women’s 400 IM
Scotland’s Hannah Miley, who already stands third in the world in the event with a 4:33.25 from the Barcelona stop of the Mare Nostrum meet, opened with a meet record time of 4:38.27. Meanwhile, England’s Aimee Willmott topped the second heat with a 4:39.50. She is fifth in the world in the event with a 4:33.64 from the Flanders Cup this year. Both swimmers looked to have shut it down in the freestyle leg, just looking for lanes in the finale.

Men’s 400 free
Australia’s David McKeon, who already leads the world with a 3:43.72 from Australian Nationals, topped the heats in the middle distance event with a 3:45.23. He looked to be in full control throughout the entire race. Canada’s Ryan Cochrane tracked down the second spots in the finale with a 3:46.62. That improved his seventh-ranked season best of 3:47.30 and put him in position for a big swim tonight.

Scotland had an incredible heat three out of four, taking the top three spots in the swim. Stephen Milne chopped five seconds off his personal best with a 3:46.88 to jump to eighth in the world rankings. Dan Wallace ripped off a 3:46.96 to take ninth in the world, while Robbie Renwick also made the finale with a 3:47.19.

Women’s 200 free
Australia’s Emma McKeon and England’s Siobhan O’Connor set up a barn-burner in the next heats with back-to-back meet records. O’Connor lit up the morning with a 1:56.58 before McKeon came over the top in the next heat with a 1:56.57. McKeon is second in the world with a 1:55.68 fro mthe Australian Nationals, while O’Connor clipped her 10th-ranked season best of 1:56.59 with her swim. New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle also cracked 1:57 with a third-place 1:56.82.

Men’s 100 free S9
Australia’s Rowan Crothers topped prelims in the Paralympic category with a 55.31. That’s not far off his world record of 54.95 set earlier this year in Brisbane.

Women’s 50 breast
The meet records kept tumbling as Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson rocked a 30.49 this morning in the sprint breaststroke preliminary heats. That swim vaulted her to third in the world with that swim, and blasted her previous Jamaican record of 30.91 from the Mesa stop of the Arena Grand Prix last year.

Meanwhile, England’s Sophie Taylor set a British record with a sizzling time of 30.56. That swim beat Zoe Baker’s British record and moved Taylor up to fourth in the world rankings. Scotland’s Corrie Scott surged to a third spot out of prelims with a 30.64 to beat the Scottish record. Australia’s Leiston Pickett finished fourth in 30.70 as this morning rewrote the top 10 in the world.

Men’s 50 fly
England’s Ben Proud scorched the men’s sprint fly prelims with a 23.17. That effort shot him all the way up to tied for fourth in the world in the event with Andrey Govorov’s time from the eindhoven Swi Cup. No one else even came close to Proud’s time in the morning.
Singapore’s Joseph Schooling tracked down the second seed with a 23.43 to move to 12th in the world, while South Africa’s Chad le Clos picked up third in the morning with a time of 23.65.

Women’s 100 fly
Australia’s Alicia Coutts, already seventh in the world with a 57.60 from the Australian Aquatic Super Series at the beginning of the year, cruised to the top seed in the finale with a time of 57.93. That’s not far off her best time, and puts her squarely as the favorite in the finale.

Canada’s Katerine Savard, the third-ranked swimmer in the world with a 57.27 from Canadian Nationals, charged into second this morning with a 58.13. England’s Siobhan O’Connor kept on rolling in what has been a strong morning for her with a 58.24.

Notably, now swimming for Australia after switching her citizenship from Great Britain, Ellen Gandy made the top eight out of prelims with a 58.92.

Men’s 100 back
England’s Chris Walker-Hebborn not only set the meet record with a time of 53.30, he also vaulted to fourth in the world rankings with the swim. Australia’s Josh Beaver wasn’t far behind with a second-place time of 53.68 to move to ninth in the world.

Men’s 200 breast
Scotland’s Ross Murdoch didn’t waste anytime to put his mark on the meet as he clocked a meet record time of 2:08.78 this morning in the event. That performance jumped him to sixth in the world as he edged Olympic silver medalist Michael Jamieson (2:10.17) in the heats. Jamieson, however, has more in the take as he’s the top-ranked swimmer in the world with a 2:07.79 from British Nationals. It was definitely a strong morning for Scotland in the event as well with Calum Tait taking third in 2:10.33.

Women’s 400 free relay
The Australian foursome of Melanie Schlanger, Alicia Coutts, Brittany Elmslie and Madeline Groves sprinted its way to a sterling meet-record time of 3:34.57 in the prelim session. That’s just three seconds off the world record of 3:31.72 set by The Netherlands in 2009, and Australia will be adding its two best legs in finals in Cate and Bronte Campbell. At the very least, Team USA’s textile best of 3:32.31 from last summer’s Worlds is in jeopardy.

Author: Jason Marsteller

Jason Marsteller is the general manager of digital properties at Swimming World. He joined Swimming World in June 2006 as the managing editor after previous stints as a media relations professional at Indiana University, the University of Tennessee, Southern Utah University and the Utah Summer Games.